Persona Absconsus
by ComposerEchofox
Summary: A Persona 5 and Digital Devil Saga inspired fanfic based around Naero unleashing his Persona by becoming the Persona. He and his crew set off to learn the mysteries of their powers with the help of David. Unfinished


I've been called to be one of the strangest person of all. No one knew about my personal life since, private stuff man. I wish that they knew though, but you know I don't think they could handle it. So picture this young man, late teens (supposed to be a junior in high school), jet black mistakenly navy blue hair, tends to wear different colored eye contacts (never black), knows a little bit of fashion but sometimes sticks to jeans and a hoodie with some character on it, sneakers that get replaced every year, and some old pendant that I have been frequently mistaken for it being a part of The Lord Of The Rings. That is me, most of the time. I'm a A or B student according to my parents and I'm also a very nice person that can be beaming with kindness. According to my past friendships, either it's the friend's fault or somehow mine, I always lose the friendship/bond/connection to them. One year I'm friends with them, the next we're complete strangers or they moved to Florida. One time I told one of my friends that I'm really depressed over the loss of friends and the many teachers that left or got angry over the teachers that played games with my grades. Guess what happened to that friend. Moved to Florida, if anyone else moves to Florida I swear I'm going to suspect that it's more than their dad getting a new job/promotion down there… Back to me, I sometimes play video games, read, do plays as some of the main male leader roles do this that blah blah blah my god I'm boring myself to death. I'm not sure if you're still there, I did say that what I did most of the time was above. Most of the time. I'm considered to be pretty average, creepy, maybe should be put in a asylum (maniacal laugh, can disturb anyone, etc.), or going to be something big, but no one knows about some of the things that I've suffered through. Here's a story about some superman-esque story that is more than just that. Naero Lunar, some call me Mad Hatter, Komaeda, Harry Potter, hell even my stage names in plays but one that thousands not know or will know is _Persona absconsus._ I do pray they don't know, because no one should know. Not yet at the very least.

One thing that will always amaze me is how I manage to get to school in the morning. I woke up to see the clock dial turn to 6:33 am. "Crap! I'm going to be late" I bolted out of bed then scrambled to find clothes from my dresser. Of course there was barely any in there since I've never washed my clothes in a while. I dug through the pile of clothes on my chair and eventually found something that didn't reek or wore last week and quickly put it on. I didn't have time to tie my shoes so I slipped them on after putting my socks on. I grabbed my backpack and shoved everything into my Cowboy Bebop messenger bag, grabbed the car keys and my somewhat oversized phone, then darted off from my bedroom.

"Going to be late again honey?" Mom asked as she made breakfast for my younger siblings

"Not this time" I said walking out the door

"Have a nice day!" she said warmly then waved goodbye. I smiled at her then went into the garage. I opened the garage then went into my white Toyota car and started it up. I pulled out into the driveway and went into the road going a little bit over the speed limit. I'm not too far away from the school but I tend to get a lot of stoplights which are a living hell. Luckily, the stoplights were generous for once and let me drive past by. I looked over to my phone to see the time.

 _7:06? I am going to be screwed_ I thought. My first class is on the opposite side of the school and it takes almost 5-10 minutes to get there. May not seem too bad, unless if your classes start at 7:20 am. I drove into Junco Senior High School (my school) parking lot and parked in the parking space closest to the front entrance. After I got out, I locked the doors then ran at the speed of a car to the building. I dodged the people that were taking their time walking to class while apologizing as their books or papers fly everywhere. As I approached to my destination, I slowed to a fast walk and made it just in time before the second bell would ring. I sat in my desk and pulled out all of my 'usual' stuff: folder and notebook for class, a book that takes me forever to read, pencil, eraser, and a drawing notebook to keep me awake.

"Woke up late?" asked my friend (for now), Axel, or should I say Prompto. He likes being called Prompto since a) it's his favorite Final Fantasy character at the moment b) he looks almost identical to the character and c) he gets things done 'pronto' hencing the name in a way according to him. I usually refer to him as Axel when he's not around just in case for any weird confusion, trust me it happens.

"My stupid phone forgot to wake me up again" I responded tired "I'm starting to doubt that the next phone is going to be any better than what it is now"

"I hear it's going to be bigger by a half an inch" he said

"What's the deal with bigger phones? Yeah you can do more things with it but you can always buy a tablet. If they want it bigger, buy a freaking laptop"

"I feel ya man, but we should just wait until phones become implanted inside of us. Now that would be my next phone." he said dreamily

"Well, my good friend, that won't happen for a while" I said crushing his dreams

"Lunar! Prometheus!" Mr. Viktor barked at us "Pay attention! I would like to not repeat anything just to save everyone's time. Clear?!"

"Yes, Mr. Viktor" we said in unision. continued his announcements about finals coming up and how we should be prepared and blah blah god I'm about to sleep blah. To keep myself awake, I started sketching human version (coughanimesough) of some cartoon show that I used to watch. It was a spectacular show about twins solving mysteries of the town that their Grunkle Stan (grandpa uncle I suppose) lived in. They were there because their parents said screw your summer plans we're going to send you to live with your grunkle Stan just so we can go to the Bahamas or something like that. My favorite character from the show was actually the illuminati-like guy since he creeped me out a tiny bit but also super curious… All I ever remember from him was that he was voiced by the creator of the show himself… Back to school, eventually I took some notes for my United States History finals. Oh, did I forget to tell you that it was near the end of the school year for me? Well… it is. The rest of the classes were the same, boring me to death about the big bad finals. I thought that the big bad test was the ACTs, which was a bit of a challenge but I managed a 26 out of 36 magically. But now it's the horrible miserable finals for every class. I almost want to take a music class like orchestra, band or choir but from what I've heard is that they're quite the stiff competition.

After going to all of my 'morning' classes, I head over to the library to start studying some of my final study guides. I know that Axel is probably going to yell at me for not being at lunch but hopefully that he'll understand that I really want to finish off good for my junior year. After studying some more, I went to the rest of my classes that have none of my friends in. Once the last bell rings, I grab my things and got out of the school and into my car. After I started the car, instead of going straight home I took a left and started heading towards the bookstore to pick up some books. While I was driving, something felt really off. I suddenly heard a voice saying:

 _No one… saves_

I looked behind me to see if anyone was talking to me but the back two seats remained empty. _Must just be me_ I thought then continued going. As I drove past some quieter streets, I noticed more cars in the middle of the streets and a few car crashes. "I wonder what's going on around here?" I muttered to myself. I parked the car in the bookstore parking lot then went inside. Instead of the silent mummers of people interacting, it's a deadly quiet place that almost makes me want to get home ASAP. I went over to the customer service desk and asked "Is the book _The Da Vinci Code_ here? I reserved it under the name Naero Lunar"

"Hm? Oh" she seemed like she was day dreaming or something. The customer service lady went underneath the desk and pulled out the book. "Naero Lunar, correct?"

"Yes ma'am"

"And you payed online, right?"

"Yes"

"Okie-dokie then, have a nice day"

I took the book then asked "Say, do you know what's going on here? There's been a lot of cars broken down in the middle of the streets and more car crashes so I'm just curious if you knew…" she gave me an icy glare

"You will fall" she said monotonously "Sink… so dark of the con man…" Her eyes flashed orange for a split second. _Hold on, did she just change her eye color just now?_ I thought starting to get scared. _I got to get home._ I ran out of the bookstore and to my car. I backed out of the parking space and started heading home.

 _Run… but drown in the end_

"Get out of my head you factoring hectopascal!" I yelled in my car. I went into the highway's faster lane. I kept driving until I found the exit that lead to home quicker then moved over. I continued going in the same lane until something shifted me over and crashing into another car. Everything slowed down into a slow motion, I was trying to escape from the explosion that I knew that was going to happen. _This is it…_ I thought. _This is really happening, time to say one last thing…_

 _Hide thy face from light to mock the stalking Grim Reaper._

Then out of no where a strange mask appears on the passengers seat. It looked like something that someone would wear at a masquerade ball but also maintaining a superhero look. Unconsciously I put it on and suddenly flashed to a strange black oblivious like room with a stuff animal in the center.

"Hello?" I shouted into the empty space, only getting echoes in return. _To think that being alone was the emptiest feeling, this is way worse._ I thought as I walked over to the stuff animal, hoping it would get me back home. _I swear someone out of no where is going to say 'CUT!' because this is way too similar to a movie_ I observed as I came to a stop in front of the chair. The stuff animal that sat perfectly still up against the chair was a panda with a half a foot bamboo next to it. On the panda's nose was a scroll that was almost as long as it's head. I took the scroll and unrolled it vertically until it showed the full text.

您

是

否

要

保

存

吗

?

◯ 是 X 没有

I never studied Chinese very often despite my family being somewhere from there, mostly grandparents and great grandparents since they claim there is better. _I wish I took my grandparents more seriously_ I thought. _Well it is a yes or no question by seeing the circle and 'X' with the chinese characters meaning yes and no… and probably seeing the words home? I think it might mean if I say yes it'll take me home since I swear to god I saw this before._

"Yes?" I responded to the question. Nothing happened. I picked up the bear and sat down with it then I repeated my answer. One second later I'm sitting in front of a desk with a young man that looked like David Tennant behind the desk with two people at his side wearing blue outfits and gold colored eyes. _I wonder where they got those eye contacts?_ I thought.

"Hello, welcome to the Velvet Room" said the David Tennant guy with a terrible snotty accent from god knows where as he pushed his glasses up "You must be Naero Minato Lunar, right?"

"First off, your accent is really getting on my nerves. It's like hammering a nail into your skin while someone pours rubbing alcohol on it to stop the infection. Secondly, how do you know my name. Third, why am I in the Velvet Room when I'm pretty positive that this is real life and not a dream. And fourthly, who the hell are you and what's going on around here. Also why do you look so much like David Tennant, an actor who played The Doctor in Doctor Who." I asked him. _He should cough up any second that this is all a movie production and somehow choreographed this thing just for money._

"Alright, you caught me" he chuckled in his presumingly normal voice which sounds like the actor "I like your description of my attempt to impersonate Igor, I should try that on others (mostly the neighbors). I know your name because I'm that sexy and awesome to know. I got bored with the same get up whenever I do this kind of biz. To answer your question about what am I is a complex situation that we could discuss later. All I'll give to you now is my name: David. The name's David or if you are confused Cheshire. Or the Doctor if it helps clear your mind"

"Cheshire?" I asked

"Cheshire knows all you know" he responded "Anyways back to answering annoying repetitive questions, you're here because you picked up the stuff animal and agreed to help it"

"What?! I didn't sign up for any volunteer jobs" I exclaimed "I just wanted to either go home or go to Heaven"

"Ah, a Christian…" he said with curiosity "Besides that, it's not exactly a 'volunteer' job. It's more like 'I help you if you help me' kind of thing but only with pricing, consequences, mystery, you get the point. All you have to do is just solve the problem then decide: Reality or Now"

"What's the difference."

"What is not?" he said twisting my question "You'll find out later. Elizabeth, the card"

"Yup" Elizabeth, in the flesh, walking over to him with a playing card. _What the… Why is Elizabeth_ _from Persona 3 here?!_ I thought dumbfounded. _How come I didn't notice her in the first place?_

"Thank you" Cheshire/David said to Elizabeth as she walked back to her standing position. _I hope I get to go on a date with her_ I thought in dreamland then immediately snapped out before it could go any deeper. "Ooo, this is a fun one" Cheshire/David said "What's even funnier is that you look like the one! Hah!"

 _Is this guy smoking weed or something?_ I thought as my concern for this guy grows

"Actually I don't smoke" he said reading my mind almost "But to be honest, I avoid the real stuff by smoking the electronic version. Anyways enough about me, so right now you should be considerably dead. But since somehow something picked you to help them last minute, you dear friend can continue life in that same world, you'd just have grave severe injuries and be in a hospital. But there is a consequence to doing so, but they're not as important."

"I'll be missing an arm?"

"No we don't need arms nor any physical feature that is necessary for life and love. Your life would be slightly altered, not by much. Don't worry, we don't want bonds between relationships or anything like that, actually we don't take anything from you. There'll just be consequences"

"What kind of consequences?"

"Well let's save that question for later, you should get going before you actually die" he said wrapping up our conversation

"Hold on, what's going to happen to me?" I asked

"Nothing in particular" he said slyly

"Wait!" but it was too late. Darkness soon consumed the room until I couldn't see anything anymore.

I woke up seeing my parents with their black hair shining from the window next to me.

"Oh thank the Lord that you lived" my mom said crying then hugged me

"I'm so glad that you lived" Dad said hugging me after Mom.

"What happened… to me?" I asked

"You almost died in a car crash" Mom said wiping away her tears

"Someone must've crashed right into you somehow" Dad said "But the good news is that you're healing quite fast"

"How long was I out?"

"A few weeks, don't worry about the Finals." Mom said "They'll give you an excuse to not take it on the same day like everyone else. We set up a time where you'll stay after for a few hours to take the test. While everyone else takes the test, you'll be studying in the library."

"Unless if you heal fast enough, maybe you'll take it with everyone else" he said

"Ryan, you know how I feel talking about that in front of Naero" she said nervous

"What do you mean?" I asked, starting getting nervous

"Well…" she said slowly "When the medics found you, you were almost crushed between two cars since a third car rammed into the back of yours. You were about to die but for some reason, you started recovering almost instantly. When they found you, most of your ribcage and bones were broken, maybe shattered but when they finally got you to the hospital all you had left was a broken arm. Soon or later, you were almost fully healed except for a few stitches, which is by the time you woke up. That's the Lord's work, Naero, be very thankful that you still lived."

 _Well, I'm not totally positive that it was_ I thought _but I'll go with it since it's most logical in my world._ Dad got up saying "I'm going to check whether you're good to go home"

"They may say that he'll have to stay over night though" Mom said

"I'm still going to check" then Dad left me and Mom to talk with the nearest doctor. We remained silent until he came back. _I wonder if meeting David and Elizabeth was real, sure didn't feel like it but then again… I should be dead by now but I got a second chance by meeting with that guy… I wonder…_

"Hey Mom" I asked

"Yes Naero" Mom responded

"Have you ever heard of a man that looks like David Tennant, a actor from Doctor Who that tends to change his name just in case of a confusion?" _I doubt she'll know about him but it's worth the shot._

"No, you must've had a really weird dream." she responded then felt my head "Are you feeling okay still? You may still feel a little dizzy from the numbing stuff that they gave you when they stitched the left side of your leg and right side of your cheek. They gave it to you just to make sure that you don't move a whole lot in the operation."

"Well that explains a lot then" I said trying to make her laugh but she seemed a little too stressed out, probably because I almost gave her a heart attack a few weeks ago. Dad came back thankfully before the awkward silence commenced.

"Amazingly, they'll let you back by tomorrow" Dad said happily

"That's great!" Mom said also happily

"Since it's getting late, we'll go home and come back as soon as we can" Mom said then gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"What time is it? The sun is still out though" I said

"It's 8:04, we've been here ever since 5:00 with Sho but then he wanted to go home to work on homework" Dad explained "Julia went along with him since she was getting tired"

"Oh, well tell them that I'm up and will be there tomorrow" I told them

"See you tomorrow Naero" Mom and Dad said as they left. I waved goodbye to them as they left until they were out of the room. Here's a brief explanation of my siblings: Orpheus "Sho" is an annoying sibling that loves to create things and math. Julia is the youngest child and is the most adorablest girl that couldn't hurt a fly. I had a older brother but… something happened to him. _Something is definitely off about me_ I thought. Healing faster than a human being, the car crash, David and Elizabeth, the panda, mask, everything about this whole thing is some kind of gimmick. I looked over to the small table next to me and found my beaten up messenger bag that amazingly survived through the crash. I looked inside to see if any of my school work survived, mostly the final study guides. Luckily I found them all and weren't damaged, along with the mask I found in my car before the crash. It was a strange masquerade/super hero mask with a raccoon like pattern surrounding the holes for the eyes. I looked behind the mask to see a note saying:

Take good care of this. VERY helpful later on tonight.

The Doctor (aka David or Cheshire)

 _Was he the one that send this somehow?_ I thought. _Moreover, why did he say it'd be helpful later on tonight? And will I ever see him again to interrogate him even more?_ I set the mask onto the table then studied all of my subjects since I couldn't do anything else. I studied until the nurses said lights out to me, which made me feel like I was back in the horrible camps when Mom and Dad wanted peace in the house. Thank God they sent me with Jack, he always kept me company. Once the nurses turned off the lights, it was like a black out. After being creeped out by the darkness for 5 minutes, I tried finding the lamp light switch which was harder than I thought it was finding. It took forever but I finally felt something after 8 minutes, or it felt like 8 minutes. I felt around for the switch then turned it on. The lamp illuminated with a golden hue that wasn't too bright or too dark. "Much better" I said relieved. _I wonder if my phone survived the crash_ I thought. I started digging around my messenger bag for my phone to notice something really off. I looked up from my bag to see if anything else was here. _Empty… just as I thought._ I continued my search for the phone and found it with a large crack on the back. _Great, now I'll have to get a new case._ I thought. _Wait a second…_ I looked at my hands that were morphing into large black claws. "No… nononononono" I said getting even more scared. I took off the sheets to see my legs bandaged up including my feet growing with little claws peeping out from the bandages.

"Sooo, having some trouble there, Naero-kun?" said a familiar voice. I looked over to see David eerily possibly cosplaying the Doctor from Doctor Who.

"What did you do to me?!" I yelled at him as fear started to drive my actions.

"Nothing in particular" he said calmly. BANG BANG BANG! The door pounded with fury.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" I exclaimed

"You may want to use that mask I gave you" he said pointing to the mask "You see, you got two things coming at ya: One being… well your arms and legs and soon to be your whole entire body is going berserk because of your new powers. And two: they're coming for ya since you got that special power to do something"

"Powers?! YOU GOTTA BE SHI-"

"Come out come out… we know you're there" hissed a chilling voice

"Your guests are waiting, Naero." David said "I know that you can do it. I can't do anything or I'd destroy time and space itself. I'm in two places right now which is not good for me since well it starts to tear me apart. Put on the mask to help control it and tame it like a wild animal. If you don't do it soon you'll be stuck like that until you learn to control it"

The door started to bang continuously with cracks starting to form on the door, despite it being quite a solid door. _What should I do what should I do?_ I thought as I started hyperventilating. _No one's noticing the fact that there are some unknown species outside my door, I'm turning into something, David's not going to help, all I wish is to have a normal life again_.

"You can sort of lead a normal life" David said over the loud banging that's breaking the door down. "Just put on the mask to control your powers like I said. I may not be so trustworthy, I know I can be like that but please understand that not doing anything will not only make the situation worse but it will affect you later on." I looked at him to see him really serious, almost a different person than I originally saw him.

"Fine" I said agreeingly then grabbed the mask with my now doubled sized hands/claws and put on the mask. A large booming sound came from me after I put on the mask, shattering the windows of the room and any glass. And also breaking open the door which was blockading 2-4 things that would come from a horror movie with either an asylum or a hospital setting. More on the hospital setting with the what may have been nurses turned into something that would be more fitting in the depths of hell.

"I'll just hang right over here as I watch." David said going over by the window seal

"Don't fall then" I said in a almost growling voice.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine as long as I don't interfere with major changes like this." he said as he sat down on the window seal which was still coated with shattered glass.

I noticed the Mutsunokami, a katana (aka interesting kind of sword that's Japanese) my hand with something engraved in it. Before I could get a closer look at it, the demonic/monster nurses came busting in.

"Time to play" I said trying to sound confident but in all honesty, if I was still ahem human I would be literally shitting my pants. Pardon the language, I'm way too stressed out to be thinking about manners and crap like that at the moment. The demon nurses laughed at my bravery but I couldn't really tell if it was laughing or a really nasty cough. If it was laughing, they must've been smoking something that was triple the amount of the dosage or something. They came at me after the starter's gunshot in their tiny brains went off. I guarded the attack with the sword but they pressed on to me.

"Use the sword to push them back" David shouted for no reason. I tried pushing them back and eventually pushed their force off of me. They lost their balance immediately, giving me the opportunity to make at least a dent on them. I went up to the first defenseless demon nurse and slashed it until it froze. I stopped slashing it to see it slide from the slash marks I made then disintegrated. _I still swear this is a dream_ I thought after that happened. I then turned my attention to second demonic nurse then cut that down as well. After I finished it off, David started clapping which felt almost fittable for this situation. Almost.

"My myy, what a fantastic performance Naero-kun" he said proudly

"Thank you?" I said unsure of what to say.

"I'll make sure I teach you… better sword techniques soon or later" _Thank you for the delightful comment you yoctogram._ I thought.

"FYI, I'm not Japanese. I'm more Chinese/American" I commented

"Not really, you have a mix of almost everything. French, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, maybe something from Indian Americans… Seriously have you ever checked?" he asked with a large smile.

"Well, I sort of knew that I was part Russian somehow. Probably from my father considering the fact that he hates the fact that they use Russians as an enemy in one game series that I have."

"I should get going…"David said getting up "I'll be waking up soon"

"What do you mean waking up soon?" I asked "And will I ever encounter that thing and things again?!"

"If you _**chose**_ to encounter them again" he said turning towards the outside instead of inside. "Listen, you may or can die multiple times but it will only remain as a flesh wound, so you americans call it. The only time you will die is when the game is over"

"Wait, am I in some sort of game?" I asked

"I better get going, I can feel myself waking up" he said leaning out of the window "It's a really weird feeling. Anyway, you will be greeted with a few more people and then the real games will begin. I'll keep an eye on you as you progress and pretty much make sure whether if you go a wee bit insane"

"Are you going to jump out of the window?!" I exclaimed

"See ya Space Cowboy!" then he jumped out of the window like Aladdin on to Magic Carpet, except I don't think that there was a so called 'Magic Carpet' supporting him from a fall that's about a 100 stories from here. Maybe less but still somewhere around there. I went over to where David committed suicide to see no trace of him after he jumped. _Not even a body,_ I thought. _Weird…_ I went over to the nearest mirror because who knows when I'll ever be able to see myself like this. To be honest, I thought I'd look worse when I saw myself. Mostly normal face, mask almost stitched to my face with red markings dripping from out to make it look like blood, large stitch across the right side of my face, red eyes which are probably my contacts. I showed my teeth to see it more pointed and sharp, something I could live with. _Not too bad_ I thought. I backed up to see myself look terrifying but very cool in the progress. Ridiculously long arms with large claws for fingernails that are stitched and bandaged together, my hospital gown torn up due to my spontaneous growth spurt showing fur that belongs to a mutant wolf or Totoro, feet that look like roots of a tree only with fur and claws, and to top it all off, large majestic wings that were stolen from Howl somehow stitched into my back and melded with my bones.

"So… this is what I'll look like... " I thought out loud then started looking around seeing the mess that the demonic nurses (and me) made. _I'm probably going to explain all of this_ I thought. _And how will I ever explain to Mom and Dad about what happened me, doubt that they'd believe my story unless if there was another witness. Unless…_ I grabbed the mask that's stitched onto my face and tried pulling it off until it hurted. I gave myself a small break then attempted to rip it off like a band aid which made me scream and yell afterwards. Once it was off, I felt myself shrink by a few inches as my hands and feet grew back to normal human hands. I looked in the mirror to see me human again! (movie reference in song).

"Thank god that I'm normal again." I sighed in relief. Then a stampede of shuffling feet came towards my room. I prepared myself to put on the mask again just in case if it was the demonic nurses. What appeared in the doorway were a bunch of nurses so scared that I could've sworn that the moment that they saw my entire room they turned white. I hid my mask immediately

"M-m-m-mr. N-naero?!" quivered one of the nurses, shaking in fear.

"Um…" _Got to think of something logical…_ "There was a burglar here… but then he mistakened the wrong building." I explained trying to sound like it really happened "I got the cops but then he decided to turn himself in instead. The door broke because the lock broke, locking me and him in"

"Oh…" said another nurse "Well, we should place you in a new room since the burglar broke through the window for whatever reason"

 _It's amazing how fear can make anyone be naive_ I thought feeling smart. I picked up my things then followed the nurses to a new room then settled in there.

"Thank you nurses" I said politely

"You are welcome, Naero is it?" the first nurse said

"Yes, say do you know where the police were at this time?" I asked

"To be honest," the second nurse said nervous "I'm not so sure where they were. Even more interesting is that the alarms didn't go off. I wonder if that alarm system is going again… or we didn't place one in that room…"

 _Or maybe you guys are so dense to realize the DEMONIC NURSES THAT WERE TRYING TO KILL ME! And the strange transformation that happened to me._ "Well don't worry yourself" I said reassuring "I'm sure that for whatever reason that the alarms didn't bother to on and the police being gone it will be fixed by tomorrow."

"Oh…" the nurses giggled "Well good night Mr. Naero" then left me to my room as they giggled all the way.

"Women" I muttered trying not to laugh at their little shipping thoughts, setting sail with me and their in mind selves. _Thank god_ _ **that**_ _phase was over_ I thought as I got to the new bed. Mei Ling, EVA, Celes, Samus Aran… out of all the fictional women that I so dearly loved my favorite was Samus, despite EVA being intriguing… ["The author would like to apologize for the awkward moment of Naero's past fictional shippings with him and fictional women. The author would also like to state that this is merely a joke, nothing to be offensive about (with the author being shock! A GIRL!). Reason why the author put it there? Hell of it and perfect moment to put some nostalgic memories for the main character. Thank You" - The Composer 'author' ]. I situated myself in the bed then knocked out into a deep sleep.

I walked across an empty white space in my normal clothes with the Mutsunokami in its sheath strapped across my back. Usually I dream of me in something else, for example a book character or something that I made up but for the first time in forever I'm me. Just… me.

"Hello?" I shouted at the oblivion for it to respond with echoes. _Alone… as always._ I thought. _Never noticed, never known for anything great except as an excellent student at so and so by Mr. or Mrs. or Miss. something. Nothing else. It's funny, I guess how this place makes me feel more at home when it's just empty white space…_

I continued to walk until a whisper that I could barely make out came to hearing.

"Is someone or thing there?" I asked but no one answered. After a few more steps, a quiet ringing started in my ears or brain. At first it didn't bother me but it kept on getting louder as I continued going on. Static noise numbed my brain as the bells of hell kept ringing. The louder the ringing and static got the more insane I got. The more insane I got the more red water filled up. The more red water equals more red vision. Red vision means fear. Fear means insanity. Red water rising up to my knees. _Gotta get out of here_ I thought scared then started running. The more I ran the more I trudged my way through the crimson red water that was actually blood. More water equals death coming soon. Eventually everything I saw was red and black. I looked at myself to see red all over my white skin. People all white came out of nowhere and started mocking me.

"You are nothing but a piece of shit" one male said

"Go crawl back to that dump that you call home" another said

"What did I do to you?" I pleaded "I didn't do anything wrong!"

"Get out of here, you vile creature!" said a female

I tried running but they circled me. Their yelling and screaming became louder as they continuously digged under my skin and nerve. I tried blocking the sound but it was no use. Their mouths kept running like loud obnoxious motorcycles, making me more furious. They kept on going like people in a mall until one shouts "You should have died as soon as you left your mother's womb!"

Everything stopped. Rage was brimming to the point of explosion. I've dealt with it too long. I'm done. I transformed into the beast that truly represents me. People that mocked me silenced as I finished transforming, all shocked at my looks. _One more word_ I thought, ready to go off.

"Oh my god!" spoke the first male that mocked me "It's Satan's child!" then every man and woman laughed as if this was a comedy on television.

"So… You think that this is a comedy" I growled

"What? Little spawn of satan is sad?" mocked another.

"No, he's feeling a bit hungry" I smiled maliciously then jumped onto the first person I saw. I dug deep into their chest and ripped out their spine. I snapped it in half then clawed out the eyes. Everyone was horrified from the scene then started to run. I got up from the remains of the body then smiled largely "Run little lambs, run back to your shepard that awaits you. Run from the little bad wolf"

I attacked another in a more vicious and morbid manner. One after another, blood flowed against their soft faces, screams of names and shrieks drowned anyone's pleas for mercy. I was merciless, lashed everything at them. After the slaughter, I looked at all of the people that lied in a pool of blood.

"One by one" I said as I dragged my sword across the ground.

"They wanted me to get mad, they did want me mad. They saw me as Satan's son, which is merely impossible. They may have thought that I was Satan's right hand man, which is a lie." I stabbed the first man to mock me skull then pulled it out and continued going.

"They want me mad, they never thought I was human. They wanted me as a weapon they wanted me as their pawn but that's their dream. My story belongs elsewhere, back on Termina. War drugs this world with hatred and the right that killing each other is alright. Homosexual relationship is the norm, sex is just a way to make a little cash to make a living, driving the world on a large tank spreading pollution all over, the way we make living is the way we sell our drugs and foreign illegal goods, killing newborns is nothing personal. Termina is quite a peaceful place, no one trying to kill one another, everyone lives peacefully, men and women loved each other, clean air, and no one is trying to harm anyone. Adventures wait there, but not for me. It is not real, nor it will ever be" Then the black blood that drained from the people risen again until I was drowning in it. I tried swimming upwards but chained latched onto my shoulders and started dragging me down. I resisted it a few times but I knew my fate. Falling…falling…

I jolted awake gasping for air. I looked around to see my good friend Axel looking at me with concern.

"Prompto?" I rubbed my eyes to see better

"Yeah, I was just here to check up on you" he said "And to drive you home too since your parents had to take care of your little siblings. The nurses told me to get you out the sooner the better, and that you've had a burglar in your room so they had to change your room because of broken glass"

"Umm…" _Telling him may end our friendship sooner and lead him to thinking that I'm insane. But then again, he came to the hospital just to see me which is something that has never happened from all of the other times I've been in the hospital._

"I heard that you got in a car accident a few weeks ago, right?" Axel asked snapping me out of my deep thought

"Yeah, some car rammed right into me" I said

"And here you are ready to go home? 2 days later you're up with a burglar break in in the middle of the night after a 3 week coma from a near death car accident. Many people thought you died since you had no pulse after 13 clearings." he looked at the door then leaned closer to whisper "Did something else happen?"

"No" I whispered back. Although throughout my whole social life, whenever a friend asks me about 'how's life' or 'how are you' and so on I'd usually reply that every thing's pitch perfect, even if it was horrible. But this time, for some reason it kinda felt weird lying to him. As if he really wanted to know. _But I shouldn't tell him still…_ I thought.

He leaned back then said "Well let's get you ready to go before the nurses come back. By the way, I want to tell you something once we get in the car. Don't worry it's not inappropriate or anything, it's just in case."

"Okay" I got out of the bed then grabbed the clothes that were set out on the table and went into the bathroom. After closing the door, I changed out of my hospital gown into a t-shirt with a character that I made up and some old jeans that were more like pj pants due to the over comfortableness and me sleeping in them a few times. After I changed, I got out of the room then packed my things and walked out with Axel leading the way. There wasn't a lot of people out in the hallways which must be nice for the staff. After long periods of going down the stairs and eventually elevators, we left the hospital building and into Axel's car. Whenever someone asks about whether his car was brand new, he'd always say that it's a hand down from his _parents_. Not older brother or sister which are successful by now at their own jobs, but his parents hand that car down. From their 20s. No one knows how he makes it so new, you could almost say that he purchases one in secret but he always says that he just takes care of it. After we got in the car, Axel spoke up "Have you heard anything… strange?"

"Umm, why ask?" I hesitated

"Well, in my point of view, we're good friends right?" he smiled wearily

"Are you one of those types of people?" I asked

"NO!" he blurted out "Nononono! I'm not saying that!" he calmed down then said in a calmly "All I'm saying is that you trust me, trust me enough to talk about something that happened. Do you?" He looked at me with a serious face. _Something serious must have happened to make him be that serious_ I thought.

"Something happened?" I asked seriously

"Have you heard something about a game?" he asked

"A video game?"

"No, and not a game show or a board game. Something about a game where many people participate in it hand chosen. I swear that someone or something talks about it in my dream. One of my dreams had some guy named David telling me that I was one of the very few that was chosen. He also said that I'm going to feel a slight bit off, stuff like dizziness, headaches, something growing? I can't explain it all but I got a really cool pocket watch. I can't open it though, maybe you can crack at it? I had everyone else try it except you."

"I can try it once we get back to my place." I said after his explanation. _Is he one of the other people that David talked about?_ I thought. Axel started up the car then started driving. I looked into my backpack just in case if there's anything else that Mom or Dad dropped off. _Nothing._ I took out the mask and looked at it. _Why me though? Out of all of the other people why does it have to be me?_

"What's that?" Axel asked

"What?" I shoved the mask back inside my backpack.

"Come on, don't pretend to not know now" he teased.

"No really what"

"Were you looking at young girls, tsk tsk tsk. Oh Naero, my dear friend I thought I've never seen the day"

"WHAT! I'm NOT that kind of person Axel!" I exclaimed then out of nowhere a truck comes up "LOOK OUT!" I screamed at him.

The car swerved but it was too late. In the last 15 seconds I had, I put on the mask to save my friend from the same doom that I had. _I hope this works._ I thought scared half to death then braced myself for impact.

"AWWW, come oon! I was about to wiin!" said a female voice

"Pay up, this time it's sushi" said a male voice

"Dammit!" cried the female

I opened my eyes to see myself stopping the truck. Wait, I'M STOPPING A TRUCK WITH MY HANDS?!

"What the-?" I said shocked

"Naero, what the hell?" I looked over to Axel to see him surprisingly okay, a few scrapes and chipped bones I assumed. And his hands spontaneously caught on fire, but it doesn't seem to hurt him. _As long as he doesn't notice, hopefully it'll be fine_ I thought sort of worried about him.

"Naero huh?" I looked to see a girl that's a few years over my age from looks, lavender and pink hair in a bun, a black shirt with ruffles at the bottom, ripped up shorts and a top of the line brand of boots that go up to her knees. Next to her was a tall thin guy that's about the same age as her from looks, hair blond with a tint of orange, white zip up hoodie with a blue shirt underneath, black jeans and hi top platform shoes.

"Interesting name, wouldn't you say Mari?" said the guy

"Ehh, I still would've gone with something else. Oz at the least" said the girl

"Oz? While you're at it, call me something cooler than Luke"

"Who the hell are you?" I asked letting go of the truck.

"Oooh yeah. I forgot that you were… that." Mari said "Lets go Lu-"

"Nice to meet you both, we are just observing do not mind" Luke said "My name is Luke Hikari. Not Japanese but I love their culture as much as they do. Well most of it to be honest. This little lady here"

"Luke please don't"

"Is Meri Eva Green. I like to call her Mari for short. Don't worry about us, to be quite honest we were just observing. I do hope we meet again, Naero. Here's something to keep you busy for a while."

Luke and Mari disappeared as a black mass forms on the ground. The black mass rose up into a bull that's 3 times over it's

"Axel, my good friend we got company." I said. The bull roared in response, cracking the surrounding car windows .

"What is going on Naero! I want straight answers!" Axel yelled at me

"I'll give you one later now are you going to help or not!" I yelled back. The bull charged at me but I managed to get out of the way in time. The bull crashed into the wall, giving me some time.

"Alright." I said "I know this all looks like hell right now but I need you to listen. Remember how you met a guy named David in your dream and got that pocket watch? Open that pocket watch or go back to sleep and try to get David to come back. Don't ask any questions until afterwards got it?!"

"Okay!" he said scared then pulled out the pocket watch.

"Come at me bull!" I shouted at the bull. The bull pulled back, scraped the ground then rammed at me again. Before he could hit me I flew upwards then waited for the bull to crash into the wall again. But this time the bull stopped itself from crashing into it again and I do swear it exhausted blue flames out of it's nostrils.

"Oh shit" I said. The bull ran to my direction then leapt into the air and rammed me in the gut. Once it landed it threw me all the way across the road until I hit the bridge.

"Do not worry my dear friend Naero!" shouted Axel. I looked at him to see him in a long black coat, taller, spiky hair with red tips, flaming hands, and I swear I saw a tail.

"I shall help you!" He ran towards the bull and started shooting fire out of his hands as if this was some comic book.

"Axel?!" I pushed myself off from the wall. The bull was going all over the place, running over cars, trucks and so on. I jumped off from the ground and started flying my way over to the bull. Once I was close enough, I landed on top of him and stabbed where his central nerve would be. The bull roared in pain then started to fall to it's side. I quickly jumped off before it can crush me and flew a bit of ways from it. The bull slid across the roads until it was stopped by the wall. After it stopped, it exploded into ashes and disappeared for good.

"That… was fun" Axel said.

"We should get out of here quick before anyone sees us and takes us in as aliens or something" I said as the sound of sirens became louder.

"But how?" I went over to Axel and grabbed him around the waist

"Don't take this the wrong way" I said

"What are you-?" I shot straight up in the air and started flying, with Axel screaming his head off.

"Dude! Calm down!" I shouted as I climbed up to an airplane's flying altitude.

"What?!"

"OPEN YOUR EYES! I'm not going to drop you unless if you shut up!" I yelled

"Oh" he said more calmed down "THIS IS AWESOME! And a little bit frightening but still AWESOME!"

I flew into a cloud just in case if anyone were to see us but still kept a low enough level to see. I spotted a building that has a large enough landing space for me to land on.

"I'm going to go down to land on a building, okay?!" I shouted

"Okay! This is better than riding an airplane!" Axel shouted with enthusiasm. I'm glad he's happy, because if he were complaining I'd already drop him since he is really heavy. I dived down while aiming for the building. I was going almost about the speed of sound, I think by the time I was halfway there. I tried to slow myself down but we ended up crash landing onto the building. Luckily we didn't breakthrough the roof, because I really do not want people outlawing us or putting us through testing just to see what kind of mutants are we.

"Alright Naero, explain everything" Axel said

"Explain what?" I asked jokingly

"Cut it out, I mean bulls that may have been injected with steroids, random people showing up nowhere, you looking all badass and me looking sexy, the dude named David. Explain what the hell is going on and how did you heal that fast. You should've been dead after that car accident along with me with that truck."

"This may take a while to explain" I said then went on explaining about the demonic nurses, David and the Velvet Room, my transformation, and the mask. All in order of course. After my long explanation, I expected for Axel to yell at me and say that our friendship is over. Something similar happened to me a while back, got a friend in trouble and he never wanted to talk to me again after that. Let me just say we almost got caught by the police when I didn't want to do something and the friend was trying to force me to do it… He moved to Mexico after that. He blamed me for the whole thing when it was really him stealing the drugs when I just wanted to do something else besides that. But, then again I did call the cops but since he was a great liar he convinced the police that it was me and not him. The only thing we liked was a few songs and a video game. That friendship only lasted about a month.

To my surprise, Axel smiled and said "Dude, thanks for telling me that I wasn't alone with this whole thing"

"What are you saying?" I asked

"I actually experienced a transformation a while back, while you were out of course. I was in bed, just about to go to bed. Until my hand caught on fire. I didn't know what to do until David appeared. He said that I looked like I was having fun, which was obviously sarcasm. After a few arguments, which surprisingly my parents couldn't hear, he told me that I'm apart of a game called Thanatos's Schach"

"Death's Chess?" I said "What's that?"

"I dunno, but he also said that it's going to begin once everything is in order. He gave me a pocket watch and told me to wear it around my neck. He said that it helps control my new powers that are coming out of controllably. After I did what he said, I became this. He then said that I should put it on when it's time with you in a car. I have no idea how he knew this was coming but somehow he knew. Anyways, I have no idea how to go back to my um 'normal' self."

"How did you become normal in the first place?"

"I waited it out. Then in one of my dreams David said that I shouldn't do that since it can make my form permanent. He helped me out the first time just out of sympathy but he wouldn't do it again" he explained

"Well… how I did it is quite painful" I said then grabbed hold of my mask and started pulling it off. I tried to keep all of my screaming within me but I would have occasional outbursts. As the mask pulled further away from my face, I felt myself shrink back to normal. I looked up to Axel, who I just realized is now towering over me and said "Your pocket watch should be somewhere. Do you know?"

"It's on my chest. Don't worry about what's underneath, it's actually just fur" he said unzipping his coat. He unzipped it until it showed the bright silver watch embedded within him. Surrounding the watch was white fur all the way up until his collarbone where it's red fur from on out. He started to pull it out, which became yanking it out, and finally pulling it out with all of his strength with him screaming and yelling. After a while he finally pulled it out and having him shrink back to normal.

"Well that wasn't too bad" he said.

"Yup, after screaming and yelling of how horribly painful it is it wasn't that bad" I said trying to hold in my laughter.

"Oh shut up" Axel said laughing until we were both laughing on top of a rooftop with tattered clothing.

"We should get some new clothes" I suggested "I don't want my parents seeing me like this"

"Same here" Axel said agreeingly "Say, why don't we buy clothes for our transformations also. I mean, it'd save some clothes from certain doom."

"Good idea" I walked over to the rooftop door that should lead downstairs. I went inside with Axel following me down the stairs. We went all the way downstairs until someone ratted us back to where customers are supposed to be. Aparently I picked a perfect place to land. We were in a clothing store that's not too expensive and not too crowded.

"Lets split up, I'll search for my clothes and you search for yours" I said

"I actually had clothes for my other form I just forgot to change in time. My shirt exploded off of me, thankfully I still have this hoodie on me" he said tugging his hoodie

"Yeah, well I'll see you in about 15 minutes, half an hour at most" I said walking away

"See ya" Axel said walking away. I wanted something long that'd cover up everything and is easy to put on for my transformation, but to find something like that I almost had to go to some cosplay store since it's almost impossible to find anything long in this store when it's near summertime. I eventually found something that I could deal with. It was a double brass buttoned black long light coat that went an inch over my feet. I also took the hat that was with since it came with it. Then I went and picked out some new clothes for myself that went quicker than the first set of clothes. I brought the clothes to the cashier who looked at me strangely.

"It's for an upcoming convention" I said.

"Makes sense" she said proceeding with the check out. I payed for the clothes then walked out with a large bag and waited for Axel to come back. He came back a few minutes later with his new clothes on.

"Naero, why haven't you put on your new clothes. You know that you can change inside, right?" he said

"I'll be back" I said walking back in. After going in, changing, then meeting up with Axel again, we walked back to my house. Once I came in, of course Mom and Dad hug me and said "Oh Naero! Welcome home!" followed by Sho and Julia hugging me as well.

"Well Naero, I'll see you tomorrow" Axel said walking out "Got some explanations to make up for my parents"

"See ya" I said as he walked out the door. After my family letted go of me, Mom asked "Explanations?"

"Oh, we went out shopping for a while. Don't worry I didn't spend too much. It's for my next play"

"Oh? Little bit strange but then again I don't much about the theater life." Mom said then hugged me again. She's a bit of a hugger, you may say. "Well study up for the Finals now and get some sleep. I want you to do your best on the Finals, okay?"

"I will Mom" I said reassuring then went to my room. My room was sort of empty, a few large posters or either an anime or video game, few playbills, loads of books, dresser that's cluttered with work, chair still piled with clothes along with the closet door being unable to open due to the pile of clothes and other junk. The only clean area of my room are most of the floor, the bed, bookshelf, and my desk that only has my laptop and some other random junk.

"It's nice to be home" I said relieved. I took out my study guides for my Finals and started studying nonstop. After resolving every problem and re-answering every question, I gave myself a break and took a nap around 5ish and yes I am a serious hardcore studier.

"Is it dead?"

"No, it was just active when we brought it in. It was a rowdy one but it eventually lost all stamina, making it easier to carry back"

"Why does it look human? You claimed as-"

"This must be it's 'decoy' form. In order to protect itself from any further damage or especially a life or death situation like now, this thing would transform into the same race as it's captors. Usually it's humans like us but maybe it is it's only form"

"Interesting…"

I woke up to see myself in a dank room with lots of people surrounding me.

"Oh it's waking up" said a female in a knight outfit.

"Where am I?" I said. I tried getting up but I fell instantly back down. I looked behind me to see myself chained against the wall. Along with my clothes being almost completely destroyed, making me feel like the Victoria's Secret models. As much as I would love to say that if you don't know what I mean by that, it's sad to say that I know that you possibly know readers what Victoria's Secret is (blame the world for making us live in a generation where it's everywhere).

"Why am I chained up?" I asked them "I swear that I didn't do anything wrong unless if you consider biking without a helmet a crime"

"Now it's making up stories" scoffed a male also in a knight outfit

"Sir I can assure you I'm not making up stories" I said "Seriously what is going on?"

"Silence you decoy" demanded another male "You know what you have done. Murdered over a thousand innocent civilians, killed off our greatest warriors-"

"Woah woah woah. I would never kill a person unless if they were either sexually harassing me or physically harassing me." I argued

"SILENCE!" then a man came over to me then whipped me a few times with a whip.

"OW!" I shouted in pain every time that he whipped me.

"Listen here, decoy." said the first male "Make sure your true form hears as well. Under the rulings of our King and Queen, they decided that the best punishment for you was to be rotting in the dungeon for the rest of your life. I'm quite interested in how long does a Draco last though"

"A-a-a d-dragon?!" _I-I'm a dragon?!_ I thought _No, that can't be possible._ "I am N-O-T NOT! A dragon! I'm just like you people, human! I can't be a dragon! I am Naero Minato Lunar! You guys and me are probably over the top high on every heavy drug that's known to man. Now please let me go, I swear to you that I will never use drugs even though I'm pretty sure that it's your guys's fault for drugging me"

"It's not losing the decoy form," said another female "I wonder if it's really human" she walked over to me and examined me. _Please claim me not guilty please tell me that I'm not guilty_ I thought scared. After a while of examining me, she walked back to the crowd and said "Whip him a few more times, so far he hasn't shown any signs that he's the real thing"

"You guys love using that whip, don't you" I said preparing myself for another few whips "I must say it's really effective in harming me both physically and emotionally. Makes me wonder though if I'm in some police department, drugged to the point of hallucinations and caught under the suspicion of some terrorist or something on the lines like that"

"Double the amount of whipping"

 _Great, I should kept my mouth shut._ The man that whipped me from before came over with two whips then whipped me, alternating between whips which made it even more painful. As he gave the final whip, I felt myself stretching/growing a slight bit larger that resulted into something even more painful than whipping. Everyone around me gasped in shock once I stopped growing/stretching.

"So it is the Draco. Hmph, should've not doubted it from looks" said the female

I looked at myself to see a long, silver white scaly body with a few parts a shiny black fur/scaly, one being near the tip of my supposed tail, another riding up beyond my back like a horse and I'm pretty sure there's another one near my face.

"Be glad I was here to bring out the true form" said the male that whipped me

"If only they'd give it one more chance" sighed the female

"What're you crazy? That thing killed more soldiers than all of us in one war total!"

"It just doesn't seem like it was it's fault. We did provoke it at one point, maybe the several last times it was just payback"

"Or maybe it just hates humanity as a whole"

I tried to say that was a lie but it ended up in a large growl that may have made everything worse.

"See? Told ya, it hates humanity. Just like any other monster that rotted in here. Just another creature waiting to be sent back to hell"

 _Why aren't you succumbing back to hell_ I thought angrily. I tried breaking free from the chains again until CHING! One of them broke. _Huh, these are not that strong compared to when I was, well human._

"Get back up ASAP!" shouted the male as he ran back into the long tunnel that was blocked before with the few people.

I clawed out the other few chains that bound me to the wall and started charging out. The two remaining people drew out their swords then charged at me. Their swords left a few scratches but not bad enough to stop me from continuing on. I brushed past them as they swung their puny little knives at me. As I walked my way out of this so called dungeon, several more people came out of the dark and tried attacking me. I swiped them away and continued going towards the exit. I eventually came across some jail cells with people cowering in the corner of their cells, I didn't bother to break them free or destroy it, all they needed was to know is that there was a dragon down here just to make them cower in fear while not getting harmed in anyway. I continued storming my way through until a small glimmer of light started to shine through. _I'm so close to being free._

"Stop right there, Draco"

Almost over 50 people dressed in knight outfits blocked the way out, long range weapons and to make sure I die some cannons. _Weren't those not existent until Europe started planning their world domination or American's domination over the North American continent?_

"Die here or live a little longer in your cell, Draco" said one of the knights

 _How about neither!_ I spread my recently discovered wings and flew over the knights and into the light. _Of course I was somewhere in the middle of the town._ Once I was out, people looked at me horrified but I ignored them. I passed through the buildings trying to avoid destroying any of them then at last, I was free into the fields. I flew around 10 or more so miles away from the town and came to rest in the fields. _This has to be the strangest yet somewhat peacefullest dream I've ever had._

"NAERO!"

I sat straight up and punched whatever was in my face.

"Owww! God Naero you hit harder than my older brothers combined, and they're quite the sport players" said a familiar voice

"Axel?" I said rubbing my eyes which sort of messed up with my eye contacts.

"Yup in the flesh" Axel cheerfully said despite his pain on his cheek "And it's Prompto, got it memorized?"

"I believe it's more of the opposite" I teased "Anyways, where are we?"

"In some sort of large elevator, David was here but he had to go somewhere."

 _Great, he was here._ I looked down at myself to see my clothes tattered and long chains on the ground. "Prompto, explain what happened to me and how I got here. I was at my house until I fell asleep. What happened?"

"Lets just say, you were kind of going insane" he said nervously

"What do you mean? Was I transforming into that thing I was when I saved your ass?"

"In a way… You see, when you came in here you were something else. At the time I didn't know it was you so I was freaking out. David was dragging you in somehow, I couldn't remember what it was but it was like a leash. Anyways, he comes in in his normal weirdness while I was standing and pissin'. I asked him what the hell was going on and all he said was to stay put and do whatever he says until he can calm you down. As always in truth, I argued with him for a few minutes until you started screeching so I obeyed his every command until you were put down. Once you were all the way in, David somehow brought up chains from the ground and held you down until I put on the mask on you that David threw at me. After that you went back to normal and were out for a few hours"

"How come you're here before me?"

"Dunno, maybe I was closer to pick up? And before you may ask I have no idea why we're here nor if David is bringing any hot chicks in here"

 _Well I didn't ask about the girl part but it's nice to know? At least he answered all of my questions._

"Hello Axel-kun!" said David in his usual weirdness as he came into the large elevator. "I see that Naero-kun has awakened! All good I see"

"Why are we here?" I asked David

"It's a long story, but I'll tell ya! Somethings will have to remain classified for circumstantial reasons. You two are apart of a little game known Thanatos's Schach or Death's Chess. There are 14 others like you with similar abilities. It will be like a game of chess, with the other opponent being like those monsters and other players. The only thing that makes it different from chess is that the pawns respawn, non stop. Pawns are usually low ranking monsters but not always. You and the other 14 players have to defeat these things until their master come in and fight. To make this even more exciting, we'll throw in a search for the other 14 members."

"Why?"

"Some people were dropped off earlier than you two. I believe that you two are the last ones, as a matter in fact. Besides that, we're almost there."

"Will we ever go back home?" Axel asked

David smiled "If you win, then everything will go back to normal. Not, death! Get the idea? You will somehow still get through every class in school, maintain social status as you are stuck in the Game. Unless, if you'd like to use that on others… depending on what happens. Trust your partners despite their weirdness and possibly criminal activity. Don't worry, I'll be popping in and out depending on situations"

"Why are you dragging us into this?" I asked " I mean I'm not saying that this is total bull crap but it doesn't make any sense why you'd pick us out of the 7 billion others on this planet."

"Can't say, gotta keep things classified." David went over to the desk that I swore was never there and pulled out two bags. He came back handing each of us a bag then said "Here's your transformation clothes for both transformation and human form. By the way, you guys should really name your transformations because saying the word transformations is a mouthful!"

I pulled out the clothes from the bag and put them over my tattered clothes. After I put them on, the bag transformed into a sword. Like a Miyazaki movie but maybe a little more Harry Potter movie but still way too fantasy like for reality. [The author would like to make clear that this scene is like a Miyazaki movie with a touch of Harry Potter movie. Still don't get it? Play the Metal Gear Solid series. So says ~ The Composer].

The elevator stopped moving in whatever direction as a blue light started flashing in the middle of the ceiling.

"Aww, time to say good bye for now" David said depressed "I hope you two make it until the bearrry end!"

"Please, I beg of you, no bear puns" Axel pleaded

"In all honesty, don't lose anyone" David said earnestly as he shoved us out of the elevator.

"See you samurais!"

He shoved us both out of the elevator then slammed the doors behind him.

"It's a shame to have them in here, fighting just to get home." said David as he walked over to the elevator buttons and pressed the upwards button.

"Why choose them, you can get caught for adding two in." said a voice from the darkness of the room. "You know the rules, 16 players total. Now we have 17 compared to 16 on the other side. How do you think that the opponent Game Player will think about this?"

"He already knew. He told me that I was going to suffer the consequences, despite him cheating last time. Besides, this one's different. Not a juvenile delinquent, no bad grades, no weird mental problems, suicidal thoughts, nothing that would make him insane through life that's because of him. It's life around him that drove him insane."

"What can make someone like him insane?"

David paused "There once was a saying that when people make friends or have a relationship in a way, they build bridges. The closer the relationship, the stronger the friendship. Fires burn anything it can touch. So when a flame sparks on the bridges, it burns. Burns like a forest fire. This boy that I added, he has many burnt up bridges that are beyond repairable."

"And these aren't people that died, right? Close relatives perhaps?"

"No, they were friends for one year then gone the next. It's interesting how people do that, they walk away and cling to another friend."

"Like you in a way?"

"I wonder how he copes with this all… I believe that you'll be amazed of the results with this one. This game will be a very interesting one…"

I got up from the ground, still sort of dizzy from David shoving me out. I brushed off the dirt on my long coat and adjusted my eye contacts, but they weren't there. _Dammit, I lost them_ I looked around the ground for them but I couldn't find them. I looked over to Axel, who's probably knocked out or trying to catch up on sleep. I went over to him and said "My legend began in the 12th century-"

"NO! NOPE NOPE!" he sprung up to his feet and barked "NOPE NONONONONOOPE! NO THANK YOU!"

"Hello!" I said sweetly

"How dare you startle me like that with that lecture that would go on for 12 hours. Seriously! If you were dressed up as him like that one time I swear to god I'd kill you with the nearest object somehow. And trust me, I do not want to kill a good friend. Unless if they turn into a douche and piss me off."

"Thank God I'm not" I said with a smile

"Have any ideas where we're are now?" he asked

 _Tall buildings and the fact we're standing on asphalt, we're in a city of some sort._

"A city, maybe it's like ours but with a few differences." I said after observing the place.

"More like a different city than where we live" Axel said "If we were back at home, I'd already know it by instinct"

"Lets walk around, maybe we'll find something"

"Sounds good" we began our journey back home by walking around in a city. Not that exciting but still worth noting… I guess. We made our way down the asphalt path that lead to a semi-large intersection with 14 other people there.

 _Wonder what's going on._ I thought. We went closer to the crowd and stayed behind the group. Then a man that's possibly in his 20s with a bartender look pops up on a large screen where the whole group is.

"Hello Players of David's Team!" he said with a Effie Trinket voice, well close to it. "Welcome to Thanatos Schach, or Death's Game. In this game, you will have to find every one of your team while also defeating monsters and their masters. Each and everyone of you has a special power to transform into your… eh 'super power' or 'true form'. You may use these forms as an advantage but it will come at a cost that's specialized for you. I can not say what will happen to you though since it's unknown to me or your partners at the moment. One thing that you must know is that there is no other way around this game. No coming back to life, no wishing for others dead especially on your team and most importantly, if you die here there may not be any hope for you. The winner of this game will get one thing that they most desire, either be it home, loved one, or maybe something else. Now if everyone will make eye contact with everyone as you will be looking for those people. Once you meet up with a person, you may NOT leave them unless if you have a full crew and will meet up again."

Everyone looked around at each other for a few seconds then looked back up the screen. _I do swear that this is going to fail miserably_.

"Know the faces?" the man continued " If you do not, you all will have some kind of thing to memorize everyone. Besides that we will begin separating all of you in a few short seconds. Say goodbye to your friends or whatevers and time for the madness to ruin yourselves to the point of killing yourselves!"

 _Well that was an unnecessary dark comment._ After the screen went white, everyone started disappearing in columns of light except me. _Maybe I have to wait a while?_ I thought. I waited 5 minutes after everyone left and still nothing.

"Hey creepy Effie Trinket bartender! Why haven't I disappeared into the totally not ufo light?" I shouted but no one answered. "Effie Trinket! Come out come out wherever you are!"

"Why are you still here?" the Effie Trinket bartender came back on screen "You should be elsewhere and my name is Guy."

 _Guy. Out of all the names that someone named you, they picked Guy._

"I'm going to call you Jerry since you look like one and to keep me sane. Now I don't know how you or your team of weirdos made everyone disappear but you forgot about me"

Jerry didn't say anything for a while then said "I'll send someone over to tattoo you. It seems like we had a malfunction with the transporters. It may burn a slight bit but be prepared."

The doors opened from the building with Jerry on it, revealing someone with a large hood over their head walked over to me with a stick that had a shaped end.

"Tell me where to put it" he mumbled. I unbuttoned halfway down, pulled up the remains of my shirt and pointed at my chest.

"This will show no matter what, you sure you want it here?" he mumbled

I nodded. He lifted the stick and pressed it against my skin which burned worse than being in a fire. I screamed as it burned into my skin and possibly flesh and bones until he removed the stick then left.

"Just start walking around, maybe you'll find someone" Jerry said then left the screen.

 _Yup, walk around hope you won't get killed before you can meet up with anyone!_ I thought pissed off. I started walking again, sort of tracing my steps back in hopes of finding Axel, boring myself to death trying to explain what's going on. The interesting thing about this game it that it has shops but they are all closed or the doors are locked. Maybe they'll open up later or never at all. There are posters up advertising something that happened a few months ago, if time mattered here then I'd be quite bummed but I'm not sure whether it's the accurate date due to there being no year mentioned.

"You!"

I turned around to see a girl coming out of a road running towards me. She looks about around my age wearing something that would be top of the line fashion clothes.

I looked if there was anything else she was referring to. "Me?" I said confused

She came up to me slightly out of breath and said "Yes you, I found someone who's on my side."

"Umm… I don't recognize you?" I stepped one back from her.

"Wait… aren't you on David's team? Lemme see your tattoo." I pulled away my coat to reveal my soon to be scar of a dragon? _A dragon_ I thought. _A dragon that looks somewhat like from the Eastern cultures such as the Chinese dragon. After I had a somewhat spectacular dream about me, transforming into a dragon. Why?_

"Yup, you are. Now lets find the others!" she grabbed my arm and starts dragging me.

"Hey! Who the hell are you?!" I said trying to keep up with her fast pace.

She stopped then turned around with a smile "A Nobody! With a capital 'N'! My real name is Cardine Conte but I prefer Echo because that's what I really am!"

"My name is Naero," I said trying to decide whether this girl is acting or she really that mentally ill. "Naero Minato Lunar… um… Are you okay?"

"Perfectly normal! May I call you… Komaeda?!"

 _This girl has serious mental problems_ "No, just call me Naero or unless if you recognize me from any plays you may call me those at your will. And again, are you really okay or you're just putting up an act to stay cheerful in situations like this?"

"Well, I never really had friends but I sort of guessed how friends are like" she said more calmed down "Was I too strange?"

"A tiny bit… you just gotta be relaxed and comfortable with the friend you picked."

"Oh! Then hi! My name is Cardine Conte but call me Echo!" she stuck out her hand towards me. _She must be very isolated or born just yesterday._

"Naero Minato Lunar" I shook her hands which were fragile and feel like they've been in the refrigerator for a few minutes. "Just Naero. We should try going west from here over to that open road, nothing's down where I came from and I can assume you couldn't find anything."

"'Kay 'kay!" she said then we started walking.

We went into the new area and… found nothing. Went into another area and found nothing. Every area we looked we found nothing but buildings and empty shops. After the fourth empty area, Echo groaned "Uuuggghh my god. Why is there nobody here! There should be at least 14 people left if I'm correct. GOOOODD!"

 _Amazing, she loses her happy-go-lucky personality after walking around in a few areas and starts complaining about it_ I observed. "Don't worry, I'm pretty sure there'll be a person walking around like us searching for a way to survive and finding someone to cling to"

"WHY WON'T YOU JUST DIE!" a voice yelled distance, followed by a large crashing sound.

"What was that?" Echo said concerned

"Another somebody to hang with us" I said "Lets go" I broke into a run and headed east from where the sound came from. When I came in, Axel was already transformed all in flames fighting a white rabbit with red beady eyes.

"Please! Die already!" begged Axel then threw fireballs at the rabbit but the rabbit dodged it faster than it could even get halfway to it.

"Prompto!" I shouted

"Naero?" The rabbit leapt in the air and clung onto Axel's face.

"AUUGHH! GET IT OFF! GET THIS THING OFF OF ME!" he screamed as he ran around.

I put on my mask and transformed into my… soon-to-be-named 'super power' then grabbed Axel by the shoulders and yanked the rabbit off of Axel. I held the rabbit by it's neck as it squirmed and attempted to gnaw it's way out of my large still bandaged hands/claws. _Well I am sort of hungry…_ I thought as I stared at the rabbit. _Haven't eaten anything in a while… sooo…_ I bit off the rabbit's head. As everyone looked at me mortified at my action.

"What?" I said after finishing the head.

"You just bit off…" Echo said scared

"Yes…?"

"You bit off a rabbit's head man." Axel said also scared "A demonic rabbit that nearly ate my face and you just ripped off it's head and ate it like cotton candy."

"In all honesty, it tastes like a marshmallow but instead of the whatever they inject in there it's replaced with meat which tasted awesome, despite it being raw. It's really weird but it still worth it and besides it tried to kill you and it wouldn't stop gnawing off my hand."

"Still… it's really weird to see you do that" he said slightly disturbed "I know I did some weird stuff but this is way beyond my limits"

 _So says the guy who asked a girl out while wearing a anime character costume that he mistakenly thought was a guy but it was a girl, even the girl he asked out knew it was a girl character._

"Well whatever" I said throwing the rabbit's body to the side "I should undo my transformation now, you should too Prompto" I took off the mask and shrunk back down to normal size along with Axel.

"Who're you?" Echo said softly, pointing at Axel.

"Oh, he's-"

"Axel Pyrrhon Prometheus, mi'lady. Prompto for short" Axel interrupted me with his, how do you say 'host switch' on. "I must say you look beautiful in that outfit, I couldn't look away" _Well a not a very good one._

"Cardine Conte but call me Echo!" she said back to her over the top excitement "I can't think of a name to call you so I'll go with Prompto! Naero's Komaeda!"

"Uh, no! I am not!" I said firmly "Naero is an easy name to remember and is better than Nagito Komaeda!"

"I can't hear youuu!" she said ignoring me "Anyways now that we are a party of three, I'm curious what you guys named your super powers. I transform into a pretty Ferret that has the power to get into the smallest of places and also can make everyone deaf for a full 24-hours! I named it Noise"

"Why are we doing this?" I asked

"It's better than saying transform into 'blah'! Siiilly"

"But still what's the point. We can just say 'super power' and be done with it" Axel added

"It's just for the hell of it" she said giving up "Just do it, besides David said to do it since he said he'd give me a cookie if I live long enough."

"Fiine" Axel gave up "Mine will be… Prometheus. I don't give a crap and plus it reminds me of the mythology behind it."

"Awesome! And yours, Komaeda?"

"Persona absconsus, nothing more, nothing less." I said stubbornly

"Oh come on, Komaeda! Make it shorter, please" Echo Bambi eyed me, which I always give into with Julia but not this time… maybe…

"Avius. But that's it." I gave in "I still prefer Persona absconsus since it's more fitting."

"Yay!" she swung her arms around me and Axel and hugged us "We're going to be best friends forever!"

 _I am starting to wonder how old she is. She makes herself look like a 16-17 year old but acts like a 11 year old with loads of sugar._

"Please let me go, I'm dying" Axel said

"You have a death grip on us" I added "And we should get going before anything comes up"

She thankfully let us go from her death gripping hug.

"I already checked most of the area on the East side and so far, there's nothing" Axel said "I fought a few monsters but there's barely anything going on. Either this is a large city or most of the players are dead"

"We checked Southeast of this place but couldn't find anything" I said

"Let's try going North, maybe more people were placed there"

"Good idea"

"Has anyone noticed the emptiness in the air?" Echo asked

"What do you mean?" I asked "Of course there's no one around besides us at the moment"

"No…" she shook her head "Before there were many people scattered all over the place… but now it's like there's no one here."

"And how'd you know that?" Axel asked

"Dunno, I just can feel it almost. Do you two have anything like this?"

"Well, I can manipulate fire" Axel snapped his fingers and a flame flickered in his hand. "If you consider that something weird"

"Not for me" I said "Unless if you think that having strange dreams is something that would be like your strange people sensing"

"Nope! Not at all actually!" she responded cheerfully. _It's becoming official that she's crazier than she seems._ I thought. We took the northernmost route and continued walking. We kept on taking the routes that went north but it felt like we're going in circles. The rooms started becoming the same with some monsters in them. We tried going west at some point but it was a dead end.

"This is getting annoying" I said frustrated. "We're going in circles and when we try to go a different way it's a dead end"

"I wonder if it's just to get us annoyed" Axel joked but it didn't work

"I'm tired" Echo complained "I want to go back home so I can strangle my stuff animals until they fall apart"

"Why do that?" Axel asked tiredly

"Just… because" she said innocently

"While you two talk about strangling stuff animals I'm going up to see if there's a way out" I said getting out my mask.

"You're leaving me down here with her?!" Axel exclaimed

"Scared? I find it quite un-host like to leave a girl alone by herself." I smiled then put on the mask and started flying upward. I flew up until I'm about the same height of the skyscrapers and landed on top of the highest one. I looked down below to see Axel and Echo as puny little specs of color. I looked around more to see some monsters in every area up ahead, all ready to kill us. Right before I decided to jump down, something caught my eye that wasn't there before. I looked over to see a lavender spec of color to the right fighting one of the monsters. _A Player?_ I started flying low to find a way to get to the Player while trying not to get noticed by the monsters. _Most of the paths are open but we'll have to improvise on the dead ends that are purposely there_ I thought. _I should get back to the others before anything happens._ I took a large turn around then flied back to where everyone else was. As I landed somewhat close to them, they continued to carry on a strange conversation about movies and how they 'evolved' over the past years. Well it was slightly interesting but still really strange in a time like this. _And a perfect surprise attack_ I thought mischievously. An brief explanation of what a 'surprise attack' or 'ambush' is in my devious mind: To give someone a false heart attack by sneaking upon the targeted person. I crept up on Axel without making a sound including breathing, as him and Echo continued to be oblivious of my arrival. _In three… two… one!_

"Hello!" I said in the lowest of low voices and grabbed Axel's shoulder.

Axel screamed like a girl and ran. As he ran, I was dying of laughter so bad that I fell to the ground laughing. Echo, for a really peculiar reason, wasn't laughing but confused looking.

"What just happened?" she asked. I took off my mask still laughing as Axel came back enraged.

"YOU BASTARD! You are the worst person when it comes to surprises!" He yelled so delightfully "That was a thousand times worse than the time at my locker!"

"I'm baaack!" I said with a smile, ignoring Axel's outrage "We better going, there's another Player up ahead that's sorta in trouble with the monsters."

"Okie dokie!" Echo said

"So you're just going to completely ignore my outrage like last time" Axel said

"I have no idea what you're talking about" I lied/exaggerated.

"Come along, we better get going before the Player gets even more harmed" I said earnestly then started running east with Axel and Echo following me. We went east for the most part with nothing stopping us until we came across a dead end.

"Echo, transform into your thingy" I said staring at the dead end

"There's no monsters here though" she said "Besides we just went over that my transformation superpower thingy is named Faye"

"Turn into Faye then


End file.
